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Southwest Airlines will no longer offer free peanuts

Ah, nuts. Southwest removes peanuts from flights

After August 1st, Southwest Airlines will no longer give out free peanuts to its passengers.

The free peanuts were the airline’s trademark for over 47 years, and many people often looked forward to the free snack on flights. However, to appease passengers with nut allergies, they decided to pull the snack from their offerings. Southwest explains,

We’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue serving peanuts on all flights. Peanuts forever will be part of Southwest’s history and DNA…Our ultimate goal is to create an environment where all customers — including those with peanut-related allergies — feel safe and welcome on every Southwest flight.

Many airlines have eliminated peanuts from their flights, but because it was Southwest’s flagship snack and part of many marketing campaigns, many expected them to hold out for a while. Nevertheless, the absence of peanuts is certainly better for the safety of passengers and should give them better PR than worse.

Additionally, the airline announced that it will continue to offer pretzels and other free snacks to fliers. Southwest emphasizes that even in the absence of peanuts, their service is still as strong as ever. Indeed, their caring employees are certainly the reason why they have succeeded throughout the years, not the peanuts (though they were a nice perk).

Southwest will also save a lot of money on these snacks as well, which could help their profit margin slightly increase. Overall, this is a win-win for Southwest and its passengers.